Robo-top: The Machines Poised to Manufacture Your Next T-Shirt

Robots currently dominate industries ranging from automotive assembly and surgical procedures to airport cargo handling. However, entrust a standard robot with a needle and thread, and it is likely to fail. Consequently, nearly every garment sold globally is still manufactured by hand, frequently by underpaid laborers in Asia. While these workers utilize tools like sewing machines, achieving full automation of this labor-intensive process has proven exceptionally difficult.

"You have a problem if it's sewing," explains Cam Myers, founder and CEO of CreateMe, a robotics firm based in California. "You have to keep [two pieces of fabric] in alignment under motion."

CreateMe circumvents this challenge by abandoning sewing entirely in favor of adhesive bonding. "Once the adhesive is laid down, you simply line something over it and stamp," Myers notes. The company has engineered robots capable of this method and is already producing women’s underwear using this technique. Plans are underway to start t-shirt production within the coming months, with mass production expected to follow next year.

For decades, roboticists have targeted the garment manufacturing sector. If machines can successfully take over this work, clothing production could return to Western nations, potentially significantly reducing the environmental footprint of the apparel industry. However, this shift threatens to displace millions of textile workers. Currently, only a small fraction of clothing sold in the UK is domestically produced, a statistic that mirrors the situation in the US.

Myers reports that he has clients interested in marketing garments labeled as "made in the US," utilizing domestic materials such as US-grown cotton. "We can use cotton, we can use wool, we can use leather," he says, describing the versatility of CreateMe’s adhesive process. He estimates that if automation facilitated the return of just 10% of t-shirt manufacturing to the US, it would trigger a massive shift in the industry.

Myers insists that the thermoset adhesive used by CreateMe is durable; temperatures from ironing or washing machines are insufficient to melt it, ensuring the garments do not fall apart. Furthermore, because these items lack seams, they offer a streamlined fit and can be manufactured on molds that replicate the human body’s contours.

Despite these advancements, Myers acknowledges a significant hurdle: apparel is "high flex." He admits that limiting production to basic white t-shirts would be insufficient. Consumers desire a vast selection of designs, colors, and styles. Robots are not yet capable of managing this complexity.

There is also ongoing debate regarding the future of sewing technology. "We don't believe that sewing is going away," states Palaniswanyi Rajan, chairman and CEO of Softwear Automation, a US-based firm in Georgia. He highlights that visible stitching remains a crucial design element for many fashion items, particularly jeans. Rajan claims his company is preparing to launch the third generation of its sewing robots, which he asserts will produce t-shirts at a cost comparable to importing them to the US. However, he has refused to disclose technical details.

Competitive pressures in the lucrative apparel market have led several companies interviewed by the BBC to withhold information about their robotic mechanisms. Meanwhile, textile workers are already facing significant strain, having endured factory shutdowns during the pandemic and recent disruptions to polyester supplies caused by the war in Iran. While automation advocates suggest workers should transition to higher-paying, less repetitive roles, replacing t-shirt production with robots will not achieve this outcome immediately.

One major advantage of automating garment manufacturing is the potential to dramatically lower the industry's environmental impact. Globally, 92 million tonnes of textile waste are generated annually, with large quantities of unsold clothing incinerated. The industry also consumes enormous amounts of water.

"If you can re-shore the manufacturing part, you can just produce there on-demand," says Gerald Feichtinger at the Technical University...

Source: BBC News Generated at: 2026-05-18 23:04:14 UTC